Check this out: Scene safety or censorship? You be the judge as Miami-Dade firefighters confront videographer.

Great example of what not to do. It begins with the firefighter getting out of the cab of the ambulance WITH gloves on. I guess they decon the driver area after each call? Then the Captain loses control of the situation. I can only imagine the fireground when he is IC. His span of control is about 1-2.
The press was across a roadway. If he was in any danger the road should have been shut down as well.
Looks like the smoking gun is when he assaulted the press with bloody gloves and physical contact.
We will use this at work as an example of what not to do.
Thanks for posting

As the general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) I deal with these issues on a daily basis around the country. Having the opportunity to see the video and read the previous comments I agree that the best take away from this unfortunate but all-too-common incident is that departments need better guidelines and on-going training.

But that should just be a baseline beginning point. “Because I said so” is fine for your mother to say but paraphrasing the US Court of Appeal for the First Circuit: “A police officer [or other government official] is not a law unto himself; he cannot give an order that has no colorable legal basis and then arrest a person who defies it. So it is here: because the [photographer’s] activities were peaceful, not performed in derogation of any law, and done in the exercise of his First Amendment rights, [Captain Smart] lacked the authority to stop them.”

While the press may not have any greater right of access than the public, they have no less right either. If there was no actual perimeter established and vehicular traffic was allowed to pass closer than the photographer was standing, then there was no basis for ordering him to leave. The First Amendment is not absolute. It is subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions. So while it might have been reasonable for the Captain to ask the photographer to move back a few feet (if he indeed was in the way or in danger) it is unreasonable and unlawful for him to order him to leave because that order restricts far more speech (and photography is viewed under the First Amendment as a form of protected speech expression) than is necessary to achieve a legitimate government interest.

There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public. That in fact is how we distinguish public from private. It is why surveillance cameras are allowed in public places. HIPPA applies to healthcare providers (including EMS personnel). Unfortunately there have been far too many misguided attempts by EMS to enforce those privacy protection requirements upon the press and the public who have no “duty of care” to the patient.

This incident is another teachable moment. Let’s hope that those who should know better learn from it.